Ice Cream Therapy
by cinbru
Summary: Because I'm annoyed with the books and I just needed some Ranger/Steph fluff. Stephanie has a bad day and only one person knows what she needs.


_Disclaimer: Not my characters. Not making any money._

For Hunter, who said some really nice things to me lately. Sorry its not much.

**Ice Cream Therapy**

It was 2:47 pm by the time I finally sank down on my couch with my Dairy Queen Blizzard. Chocolate syrup and Reeses Peanut Butter cups added. Large. Fat count: 1 million.

Everything hurt..my head, right leg and right elbow where I had slammed into the pavement after Steve Barns, shit skip number 12 for the week, threw me to the pavement. The good news is that I was getting better. A year ago he would have given me a good kick and fled. Today at least I was able to swing my leg around and give him a good solid thumping in the gonads. Dont get me wrong, he would have gotten away if I had missed. Only his prostrate position on the ground had allowed me to stun him (hey..he might have fought back), slap cuffs on him and drag him into my 2002 Gallant.

I won't mention the embarrassment that was the police station in my battered condition hauling in a skip who was probably 55 and 140 pounds wet.

But all that was behind me now. I had a blizzard. I had silence. I closed my eyes and savored the extra large chunk of Peanut Butter Cup that had won the lottery of my spoon dip.

It didnt last long. My phone rang. I wasn't stupid enough to answer it and waited for my machine to pick up. I scowled at the smaller chunk of chocolate on my spoon in disappointment.

Click. "Stephanie, this is your mother. What's this I hear about you bringing in a skip to the police station bloody? You are going to give Joseph a heart attack. You bring Joseph to dinner tonight at 6:00. We are having pot roast."

Not likely. Ohhh, this chunk was my kind of chunk. It had part of the outer ridges AND a little peanut butter.

Click. "Steph, it's Mary Lou. Heard you kicked that puny twerp's ass today. Didn't we go to school with him? Way to go. Call me later if you want to have drinks out tonight. I actually have a babysitter, God bless."

I sighed, intent on my ice cream zoning. I was doing a damn fine job, if I did say so myself.

Click. "Cupcake, we need to talk. Why don't you come over tonight? Well have some dinner. We have to talk about your crappy excuse for a job. Not to mention Bob misses you."

I looked down into my cup and shook my head as I realized that not even Joe's call inspired any kind of rat's ass in my current mental state. I closed my eyes again, shifted my sore leg and loaded my mouth with my next bite of fat. Bliss.

The sound of my locks tumbling registered about 4 seconds before the answering machine clicked on again.

Click. Stephanie, its Vinnie. Heard you got Barnes. It's about time. He weighed twenty pounds and it took you almost 2 weeks? I hope you arent answering because you are out looking for Bonner. I forfeit in 3 days on him! I'm going to give him to Joyce, too. Maybe that will get you off your ass. Oh, and your Mom called. She's pissed about the police station. Get back to work."

Ranger paused on his way over to the couch. I know this because I heard his boots stop moving. I didn't open my eyes, though. I figured he was amused. It sounded like a smiling silence.

"Babe." I felt the seat next to me dip. "You're going to get Diabetes."

"Who cares? Theres medicine for that."

"You need help with Bonner? Hes not a nice person."

"I don't know. I'm not talking about work right now. I'm eating ice cream. I'm meditating. I'm denying."

"I can see. But you surprised me. I figured it would be a Ben and Jerrys afternoon and you changed it up with Dairy Queen."

I smiled. "Ben and Jerrys is in the freezer. This is round one." I opened my eyes and looked at him finally. He was reclined next to me, his eyes assessing me, a small smile on his lips. I glanced down and felt my breath hitch in my chest. Not one answering machine message had even broken through my fog, but the sight of the Twinkies and first aid kit in his hands were enough for me to feel my eyes filling with tears.

He set the items and my empty cup aside and wrapped his arms around me, pressing his mouth to the top of my head. I snuffled against his shirt, trying to staunch the stream of tears that were intent on making their way down my cheeks. He didn't talk, just held me until I got it under control.

He leaned back slightly when the sniffles were down to a minimum. "You want to talk about it?"

I shrugged and leaned my head back against his shoulder. "I don't know, Ranger. I wasn't planning on dealing with this for another 2 hours and 13 minutes."

I felt his shoulder move slightly with his laughter. "Alright, Babe. But youre getting better, you know. I was really proud of you today," he said softly.

I felt a rush of gratitude and affection for the quiet man next to me. He angled out from underneath me and walked into the kitchen, returning a moment later with my first tub of Ben and Jerrys. He opened the package of Twinkies and proceeded to mash one into the ice cream, just like I like it. I watched him for a minute.

"Ranger, aren't you going to tell me to get up and go do something? Running? Gun range? Self defense?"

He looked slightly confused for a moment. Why would I?"

He handed me my ice cream.

"No reason," I sighed as I leaned back against him. Once again I closed my eyes and relished the first spoonful of mashed Twinkie ice cream. The quietness crept back blissfully along with the warmth of Rangers arms as he settled in with me. But this time it was better.


End file.
